Sugar Overload at the Holidays??

Understanding How Sugar Kills
Dr Clark Store and Self Health

Sugar is everywhere around us, in every festivity such as Christmas.

It’s common for a person to consume 150 lbs of sugar in one year. The more sugar we eat, the sicker we get. Soon, sugar becomes a necessity and we do everything to get it. Many of us are sugar addicts, a socially accepted addiction.

Eating too much sugar, in different ways causes diseases such as coronary artery disease. It causes constant lower back pain as it depletes minerals in our body. Too much sugar causes us to lose minerals such as calcium, magnesium and others that are needed for good bone health.

Here is how it works
Minerals empower enzymes stored in your body. When the minerals are out of balance the enzymes can’t fully digest the food you eat. Dr. Nancy Appleton, a leading health advocate and author of numerous books and DVDs on sugar, claims “You may cause mineral imbalances by eating too much sugar”. As stated on her great documentary Sweet Suicide, “Eating too much sugar throws our minerals out of balance and this robs our enzymes the ability to break down the food into nutrients. So particles of undigested food pass through our intestinal walls to the blood stream, where they don’t belong. They body sees them as toxins and summons the immune system to send out white blood cells”. Our body is not designed to be fighting emergencies all the time!

So, if we keep consuming a lot of sugar, our blood cells simply give up. Our immune systems become depressed from fighting sugar-toxins in the blood and our body becomes toxic throughout. In this way we are leaving the door open for diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, obesity, chronic back pain, mental illness and heart disease to come in.

Sugar can even give rise to cancer, according to many doctors. Oxygen, which the body needs to have to stay healthy is reduced by depleted minerals. Without oxygen body fluids and organs become acidic and cells ferment the sugar lodged in the system resulting in cancer. Otto Warburg, Nobel Prize winner in 1930 and 1934 stated “The cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by the fermentation of sugar”. I can "hear" you say it! “I will substitute sugar with healthy organic agave, maple syrup or honey”. Sorry! It will still have undesireable effect. They are less processed (less toxic) and assimilate slower but that’s about it. The best thing you can do is to eat less sugar, even if you eat purer and slower assimilating sugar!

Dr. [Hulda] Clark did not come out with clear guidelines on how much sugar is OK to consume, but she was adamant about securing sugar from countries other than the US. She used stevia, agave, raw sugar and maple syrup. She used sugar very sparingly. The average person eats 41 teaspoons (or 201 grams) of sugar per day. The nutritional fact boxes indicate how much sugar is in products, unfortunately though it is stated in grams when most of us think in terms of teaspoons.

Remember this: 4 grams = 1 teaspoons Max 8 grams = 2 teaspoons

Dr. Nancy Appleton warns that more than 8 grams or two teaspoons in the blood system at any given time begins affecting mineral balance and our ability to digest even healthful foods. So imagine the harmful effects of drinking an 8 oz glass of cranberry juice delivering 41 grams, more than 10 teaspoons of sugar. Now calculate how much sugar you ate for breakfast!

If you want to slow down your addiction to sugar consider chromium, to curb your appetite for sugar. Niacin may also help both your cardiovascular system and your craving for sugar.

from www.DrClarkStore.com, Dec. 2009 Newsletter

Wellness Approach to Depression

By: Raymond Francis, D.Sc., M.Sc., R.N.C.

The World Health Organization is projecting that, by the year 2020, depression will become the world's second most devastating illness, after heart disease. Depression also affects many physical illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, making them more likely, severe, and difficult to treat. Right now, one in five Americans will experience major depression in their lifetimes, and one in ten suffers from recurring bouts of major depression. We need to understand how this epidemic came about and put an end to it.

Symptoms of depression include: despair, worthlessness, guilt, fatigue, poor concentration, significant weight loss or gain, sleep problems, and loss of interest in life. The personal and economic costs of this ailment are enormous. Major depression has become the leading cause of workplace absenteeism, and is the cause of 20 to 35% of all suicides. While almost everyone gets depressed at one time or another, generally related to a major life change or loss, the epidemic of depression we are experiencing is different. Chronic depression has been brought on by our modern diets and lifestyles. Since we created it, we can eliminate it.

Only One Disease

In my years of research as a chemist, I have found there is truly only one disease--malfunctioning cells. Cells malfunction for only two reasons: they are either deficient and/or toxic. Therefore, our depression epidemic can be both prevented and reversed by teaching people how to prevent and eliminate cellular deficiency and toxicity. Depression is the result of prolonged stress to the brain. That stress may be caused by overt deficiency and toxicity or by social stress, which can induce deficiency and toxicity. Nutritional intake, toxic exposure, exposure to sunlight, exercise, and community with others all affect depression. Let us have a closer look at these factors.

Proper Nutrition

Proper nutrition is the single most important factor in preventing and reversing depression. Consider that the inventor of the anti-anxiety drug Valium later discovered that B vitamins could produce exactly the same benefits as Valium, without side effects or addiction. Naturally, no leading medical journal would publish his findings since they were all profiting from advertising Valium. These findings were eventually published in an obscure foreign journal and remain unknown to most physicians. Deficiencies of B-vitamins and magnesium are known to cause cellular malfunction and depression. Vitamin B1 deficiency, for example, is common in depression cases severe enough to require hospitalization. The same goes for vitamin B2.

This article continues with discussions of Vitamin B, Essential Fatty Acids (EFA), Sugar, Sunlight, Social Connection, Exercise, and Toxicity.

Read the complete article at Starfish Health Partners Collaborative Medicine Journal:

A Wellness Approach to the Depression Epidemic

Looking for guidance to develop a holistic lifestyle to combat depression? Contact Janis Davies, CWHE. Work with a Whole Health Educator to gain the information and understanding you need, in an atmosphere of compassion and deep respect. See my post on Whole Health Education

Nutrition: High-fructose corn syrup: Why is it so bad for me?

High-fructose corn syrup: Why is it so bad for me?
Q.
I've been hearing lots of bad things about high-fructose corn syrup in foods. What is it?

A.
High-fructose corn syrup is a sweetener and preservative used in many processed foods. It is made by changing the sugar in cornstarch to fructose - another form of sugar.

High-fructose corn syrup extends the shelf life of foods and is sweeter and cheaper than sugar. For these reasons, it has become a popular ingredient in many sodas, fruit-flavored drinks and other processed foods. Check your food labels. You may be surprised by how many foods contain high-fructose corn syrup.

Some nutrition experts blame increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup for the growing obesity problem. One theory is that fructose is more readily converted to fat by your liver than is sucrose, increasing the levels of fat in your bloodstream. But this hasn't been proved.

In addition, animal studies have shown a link between increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and adverse health effects, such as diabetes and high cholesterol. However, the evidence is not as clear in human studies.

Despite the lack of clarity in research, the fact remains that Americans consume large quantities of high-fructose corn syrup in the form of soft drinks, fruit-flavored beverages and other processed foods. These types of foods are often high in calories and low in nutritional value. This fact alone is reason to be cautious about foods containing high-fructose corn syrup.

To reduce high-fructose corn syrup in your diet, read food labels. Avoid or limit foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup. Some other easy tips for cutting back on high-fructose corn syrup include:

* Buy 100 percent fruit juice instead of fruit-flavored drinks.
* Choose fresh fruit instead of fruit juices. Even 100 percent fruit juice has a high concentration of sugar.
* Choose fruit canned in its own juices instead of heavy syrup.
* Cut back on soda.


By Mayo Clinic Staff
Apr 5, 2007
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